Ryan Overbey: “I think being innocuous, silent, and uncontroversial is a great way to establish oneself as a person who says nothing worth arguing about. I write provocative things here from time to time, with the sincere hope that a skilled interlocutor will challenge me. By the end of my time at Harvard, I'll have a large body of thoughts both playful and academic, a record of discussion and debate, and, perhaps most importantly, a demonstrable range of academic, political, and social interests and interactions.”
Although it would probably help to make my case if my weblog had comments enabled, one of the ulterior motives of Just a Gwai Lo is to cite controversial opinions and even write what my opinion is from time to time. While I don't want to disclaim fully anything that appears here, all quotes, if there are no comments from myself, are, by definition, without endorsement or criticism. It would be a mistake to assume that in every case, a quote represents my own opinion. It would be safe, however, to assume that in most cases, I either agree with the sentiment or just thought it was wonderfully phrased. Besides, how would you know if I read something if I haven't blogged it?
Ryan has been doing something that I've been trying lately: saying or quoting somewhat ridiculous things in the hopes that someone will call bullshit on either me or the person quoted. An article on China's one-child policy drew a private comment from a friend, which I later included in the article. (Tina's bullshit detector is more sensitive than mine. Time for me to upgrade to a newer model.) An article on an album I think is beautiful has some weak points, but I left them in because I wanted someone else to expose them. (That has yet to happen.) But Ryan is trying to say, if I read him correctly, that by making provocative statements, he is using his weblog to help form his own opinions. The main reason I've been writing stuff that doesn't jibe well with some people is to see how well it would jibe with me.
A regular reader of this site and I have been talking about a small yet signifant change to Just a Gwai Lo. So far, the perceived costs of making such a change outweighs the perceived benefits, but said reader has come with some compelling reasons for me to make that change, and while the perceived costs increase, the perceived benefits might increase greater, thereby shifting the balance to the benefits. This change would, instead of being a change to something entirely new, would be a change to the way the site was in its original form: it's entirely possible that the Rubicon was crossed long ago and that all this time I've been foolishly trying to make my way back.
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